American sociologist of Austrian origin, Peter L. Berger, is one of the most significant sociologists of religion in the 20th and 21st century. In this work I present, pursuant to my opinion and ...choice, the most important research issues Berger dealt with within the social construction of reality, religion, secularization, desecularization and religious pluralism. It was my aim to highlight, among other things, that which is common to Berger's sociological approach to religion and the anthropological researches. The basic idea, pointed out in the title of the work, the search for the sense and meaning of religion, is reviewed through examples of similarities and differences between Clifford Geertz and Berger. The category of "meaning" served as a key to understanding of culture, and even religion as a cultural system which transfers meaning. Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 177018: Transformacija kulturnih identiteta u savremenoj Srbiji i Evropska unija
У домаћој етнологији и антропологији недостају радови посвећени народним веровањима и магијским праксама о црној и белој магији. У овом раду се проблематизује истраживање влашке магије као аутентичне ...и архаичне културе етничке групе Влаха на простору североисточне Србије. У првом делу рада се посвећује пажња теоријским концептима магије, док се у другом делу рада презентују резултати истраживања о односу младих у Бору према влашкој магији, као делу традиционалне народне религије и архаичном културном наслеђу актуелном и данас.
Serbian ethnology and anthropology is missing papers on folk belief and magic practices on black and white magic. This paper problematizes research on Vlach magic as an authentic and archaic culture ...of the ethnic Vlachs in North-Eastern Serbia. The first part of the paper deals with theoretical concepts of magic, while the second presents the results of research on the relationship between young people in Bor towards Vlach magic, as part of traditional folk religion and archaic cultural heritage which is still relevant today.
Dr Dušan Bandić (1938-2004) bio je profesor etnologije na Filozofskom fakultetu u Beogradu i jedno vreme šef Katedre za nacionalnu etnologiju i antropologiju. Bavio se istraživanjem religije Srba. ...Objavio je oko pedeset naučnih radova i četiri knjige: Neke novije promene u životu i kulturi stanovništva okoline Beograda (Etnografski institut SANU, 1979), Tabu u tradicionalnoj kulturi Srba (Biblioteka XX vek, 1980), Carstvo zemaljsko i carstvo nebesko (Biblioteke XX vek, prvo izdanje 1990, drugo, dopunjeno izdanje 1997) i Narodna religija u sto pojmova (Nolit, prvo izdanje 1991, drugo 2004.) Dobitnik je nagrade „Tihomir Đorđević” Etnološkog društva Srbije za 1980. i Nolitove nagrade za 1991. godinu. Narodno pravoslavlje sadrži Bandićeve radove koji nisu ušli u sastav drugih njegovih knjiga, a koje je prikupila i za štampu priredila dr Lidija Radulović.
Sadržaj: I deo – NARODONO PRAVOSLAVLJE : O narodnom pravoslavlju danas, Tajni život kosovskog mita, O đavolu u narodnom pravoslavlju, Verski identitet savremenih Srba,Sveti Sava kao srpski Prometej, O narodnoj religiji. II deo – IZ ISTORIJE PROUČAVANJA NARODNE RELIGIJE I FOLKLORA: Sima Trojanović kao istraživač narodne religije, Erdeljanovićev rad na proučavanju religije,Milenko Filipović kao istraživač, Narode religije Južnih Slovena. DODATAK: O izboru direktora u jednoj naučnoj ustanovi, Ispit kao ritualni čin.
Curse is an appellative genre, a clichéd verbal proverb that is uttered in belief, that with the assistance of supernatural forces, God or demon, through the magical properties of words, evil will ...come upon an individual. It is examined through the context of the ideal motherhood discourse in the tradition culture of the XIX and the first half of the XX century, in view that it was perceived to be an idiosyncrasy of female demeanor. Maternity as a cultural construct in the traditional culture of Serbia is based upon the ideal motherhood discourses as a gift from god, as an innate role for women, an inherent instinct for caring towards others, as an unconditional motherly love. In practice, normative regulations and the concrete actions of a mother are not in complete concurrence, mothers love is not an objective fact, it can be present or not, vary in intensity, it can be selective, but it will depend on the personal history and cultural construct. Through such a focal point, motherly curse is perceived as a form of behavior that can be signified as anti-maternity. In the conceptualization of a parental curse, from one viewpoint, the manner of usual behavior of women that has no real implications on the life of the child is legitimized, and on the other hand, it is believed that a mothers curse has the most potent magical effect and is delivered up to the ninth generation. Parental curse and the ritual of “cursing” do not include a black magic connotation, and were considered a legitimate social mechanism through which evil was countered with evil i.e. the transgressor was being punished in cases where there existed no formal mechanism of punishment. Through such actions, the community, or family are re-imposing order in the social relations, synchronously sending a message that reaffirms the correct matrix of behavior and moral values of the community.
To deconstruct discourses on motherhood means to answer the questions, how certain gender relationships in the given society are constructed based on the dominant discourse, in which way do they ...become natural relationships and become binding for the members of the community creating the ideal type of woman-wife-mother. If we accept that the dominant motherhood discourse was conceived as the social relation of power, we can also inquire as to its problematizing and transformation. In this paper, on the one hand, religious-magical - practice are analyzed, supporting the discourse of ideal motherhood, and on the other, there is the analysis of the strategies of the magic rites, which form the alternative discourses of - control in the comprehension of woman’s reproductive role in the traditional Serbian culture of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. Cultural concepts of motherhood are directed at the fact that woman is not left with much choice, namely, the alternative discourses of motherhood tell us that women ruled over illegitimate knowledge and magic, performed abortions and in that way enabled women to strike a balance between childbearing and their own wishes and interests. However, this kind of discourse is in contrast with the interests of the church and society, that is, their tendency to use women’s reproductive potential accordi- ng to the needs of the society and not the needs of women themselves. By deconstructing taboos and magic rites which are involved in creating the discourse of the good and bad mother it is indirectly pointed at the gender construction and the power relations.
"Event Ethnography": A Modern Approach to Anthropological Research and Writing about Christmas. Review of the book by Vesna Vučinić-Nešković, Christmas in Boka Kotorska: anthropological essays of ...public firings of the Yule log in the time of post socialism. The Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade and "Čigoja publishing". Belgrade 2008. 357 pages.
Fenomen vampirizma u tradicijskoj kulturi Srba posmatran je u kontekstu kulta mrtvih i posmrtne sudbine pokojnika u nameri da se ukaže na simboličku predstavu vampira kao osujećenog mitskog pretka. U ...drugom delu rada, argumentuje se hipoteza po kojoj su različiti koncepti seksualnosti u tradicijskoj patrijarhalnoj kulturi implicitno produkovali određene mitološke predstave o vampiru. Kolizija između različitih maskulinih skripti rezultira potiskivanjem onih koje ne pripadaju javnom pravoslavnom diskursu, tako da su procesi latentne hristijanizacije implicitno reprodukovali predstave o vampiru kao osujećenom muškom seksualnom potencijalu.
Kletva je posmatrana kao apelativni iskaz usmenih narodnih umotvorina kao značajan socijalani i kulturni konstrukt tradicijske kulture u XIX i prvoj polovini XX veka. Predmet analize s aspekta ...teorije roda su roditeljske kletve odnosno kletve koje upućuju majke svojoj deci. U kontekstu diskursa idealnog materinstva, kletva predstavlja simboličko, nevidljivo nasilje kojim se dekonstruiše pomenuti diskurs i uvodi diskurs antimaterinstva.
"Event Ethnography": A Modern Approach to Anthropological Research and Writing about Christmas. Review of the book by Vesna Vučinić-Nešković, Christmas in Boka Kotorska: anthropological essays of ...public firings of the Yule log in the time of post socialism. The Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade and "Čigoja publishing". Belgrade 2008. 357 pages.